Young people demand a transparent job market: new campaign launches on international interns day

Starting from 9th November, the day before International Interns Day, all young people will be able to rate their first working experiences on Transparency at Work – a ‘TripAdvisor’ for quality jobs.

More than ever, young people have to overcome an increasingly long and hard journey to enter the labour market. It is estimated that 3 out of 4 interns in Europe receive insufficient or no compensation for their internship, 40% work without a contract and 30% of internships have no learning content.

Therefore, young people, Universities and NGOs have joined forces to take action against this exploitation by launching ‘Transparency at Work’, a campaign created to end unfair working conditions for young people. By 2020, partners of the campaign, including the European Youth Forum, aim to empower 1 million young people to access better work, internationally and across all industries.

By allowing young people to rate their work experience on transparencyatwork.org and on every partner website, Transparency at Work will create the largest participatory database providing much needed information on the quality of young people’s internships, apprenticeships and entry-level jobs. Employers are also encouraged and enabled to improve their practices and are invited to participate for free with Transparency at Work technology co-financed by the European Commission Erasmus+ programme.

On the occasion of International Interns Day on 10th November, the European Youth Forum, InternsGoPro and other organisations fighting to advocate for the rights of interns call on EU and national governments as well as employers to put an end to this endless vicious cycle of unpaid, poor quality internships, and listen to what young people have to say.

Young people deserve more than being treated as cheap labour force! Time for more Transparency at Work.